High-throughput super-resolution analysis of influenza virus pleomorphism reveals insights into viral spatial organization.

Many viruses form highly pleomorphic particles. In influenza, virion structure is of interest not only in the context of virus assembly, but also because pleomorphic variations may correlate with infectivity and pathogenicity. We have used fluorescence super-resolution microscopy combined with a rapid automated analysis pipeline, a method well-suited to the study of large numbers of pleomorphic structures, to image many thousands of individual influenza virions; gaining information on their size, morphology and the distribution of membrane-embedded and internal proteins.